Revisit: Ryan Adams – Wednesdays (2020 streaming and 2021 vinyl) & Another Wednesday (2025)

I picked up a used copy of Ryan Adams’ Wednesdays from Vinyl Record Dude (Scottsdale, AZ) for the Desert 🌵 Sessions.   My original plan was not to buy records for the Desert 🌵 Sessions that were already in my Minneapolis collection. Still, I find that about a third of my Valley purchases of the albums are redundant with my Minneapolis collection. Obviously, I like Wednesdays enough to buy it twice.

See my original review of the album from the summer of 2021 here.  I love the arrangements, vocals, and the melancholy vibe on Wednesday. The lyrics are not Ryan at his best, but the overall product is solid. Don Was’ production is exquisite (I am in a Don Was state of mind these days). This is a gorgeous recording sonically, with lots of space.

I can understand why someone might generally hate Ryan Adams and Wednesdays specifically.  For example, here is a hater: 

“With their spare arrangements and threadbare melodies, the songs collectively create an impression of a singer/songwriter who feels quite sorry for himself, but not necessarily sorry for anything he may or may not have done.”

The context of Wednesdays was that it was Ryan’s first album released after a self-imposed exile following a scandal in which he was partially cancelled. A normal artist would have been fully canceled, but Ryan Adams is a special kind of asshole that his fans have learned to tolerate. If you are going to be a Ryan Adams fan, you need to accept a lot of his bullshit. For example, in a recent live show I witnessed, the performance was brilliant (he played all of Heartbreaker), but the clock management was maddening (an intermission that was too long, cutting short the second set due to “curfew”).  Part of the deal with Adams is exploring his fucked up head, which I find interesting. Ultimately, I love the music and Ryan’s high and lonesome voice.  I find the whole clusterfuck entertaining, if not artsy.  The annoying part of Ryan is the most engaging for me. He is like an old friend you love, but don’t trust.

My first listen of this new edition to the Desert 🌵 Sessions was on headphones, and it sounded great.  But my second listen via speakers was even better. The open and airy production really shines on speakers. The vinyl LP is generally pristine and great-sounding, but it does have a few pops and clicks. Vinyl has always been hit-or-miss when it comes to quality, unless you are buying a specifically audiophile edition. Given how great this album sounds, I pine for an audiophile edition (which seems unlikely).

In addition to the arrangements that I am fond of, Ryan’s vocals are impressive – you can hear the emotion. Wednesdays is not an essential album in his catalog, but in the tsunami of releases since 2020 (there have been 15), it does stand out as a gem (although I have to admit I have not been able to keep up with his volume).

This version of the album (along with my Minneapolis version) came with a 45 featuring “Red And Orange Special” on side one and “Somewhere It Is Spring.” As best I can tell, these songs are not on streaming services. “Red And Orange Special” is delightful jangling Americana, Ryan. “Somewhere It Is Spring” is meh. Other versions of the album include a 45 of “It’s Not That Kind of Night” backed by “Sunflowers.”

Ryan revisited Wednesdays himself in 2025 with a new version called Another Wednesday. The songs are performed live with even sparser arrangements. It is mostly the same songs, but in a different running order and a couple of covers, “Tracks of My Tears” and “Moon River,” which, per Ryan’s website, are “thoughtfully chosen cover tracks —paying homage to the music that inspired the original album’s creation.” He did not include “Lost in Time,” but did include “Lost in Time,” which was a bonus 45 on some vinyl versions. As a fan of Wednesdays, it is fun to check out Another Wednesday, but it is purely for completists.